


Giving Back What We Took

by hingabee, PunishedPyotr



Series: Only Ones and Zeros [22]
Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Erectile Dysfunction, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Makeup Sex, Outdoor Sex, Porn With Plot, glitching, when your boyfriend is a computer so you fist his code
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 07:49:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17039726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hingabee/pseuds/hingabee, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunishedPyotr/pseuds/PunishedPyotr
Summary: As much as Mantis wants to object to this frankly ridiculous idea, with the way that Liquid is looking at him so intently with his pupils blown in the dark, he just can not resist.





	Giving Back What We Took

It takes a few days for the girl to rest and recover enough to be able to walk around and move freely again - Mantis stays by her side through all of this, finally having realized he owes her more than just borrowed powers.

The others are there too, and with being stuck here, not daring to go back into the VR just yet, Mantis for the first time witnesses how they care for each other - despite all their obvious differences.

The African cries a lot by his bedside, her eyes swollen with tears as she presses her snotty face against his shoulders, her wolfish howling eventually subsiding to only a pitiful whimper.

The other two try to cheer him up with their peculiar senses of humour - the Scandinavian laughing loudly over her own jokes while the Indonesian jumps at the nurses with piercing screams to scare them.

It is a welcome distraction and for the first time in a very long while Mantis feels like a child again.

Ocelot is not far though, of course - how could he? His most precious asset has been damaged and so he seeks out to have it fixed as quickly as possibly. Mantis quietly curses him whenever he shows up in his hospital room, which only makes the girl ( _ his _ girl, he reluctantly accepts) break into giggling fits that end up with her coughing so hard she tastes blood again. 

The old man does not seem to question it though and just nods in satisfaction after witnessing her recovery progress.

But Mantis feels at ease - the girls do well on his mind and even though he knows he is just avoiding the inevitable, he discovers a newfound appreciation for life. 

But one night while the hospital is asleep, the girl drags him out of his thoughts and tells him to leave, to go back to that place he always disappears to.

Mantis asks her why and she actually seems a little annoyed, tired and exhausted - so he figures she just needs some space for herself after sharing her body and mind with him for so long again. 

It seems Liquid is not the only one who wanted a break from Mantis.

* * *

As he finally steps back into the simulation he finds himself surrounded by the Angolan wilderness and can not help but smile to himself as he looks up at the night sky, embroidered with lines and lines of stars. 

It does not take Mantis long to find what he is looking for. 

After walking through the tall grass for a bit, surrounded by the buzzing and chirping of insects he spots Liquid just laying there in the dirt - arms behind his head and watching the busy night life of the water hole just a few feet away from his little spot.

Liquid does not look up when Mantis settles down next to him. 

"...this is nice." Mantis says at length.

"So you're back," Liquid says, still not looking at Mantis. A little round frog hops along in the mud.

"I thought you wanted space."

"I did. I do, I mean. I needed to think."

"And? Did you...?"

Liquid's silent for a long time, then he rolls over onto his back and stares at Mantis instead of simulated wildlife. "You're not hiding any other deep, dark secrets from me, are you? There isn't anything else you only told me half the story to because you weren't sure how to tell me the other half?"

Mantis thinks about Ocelot for a moment, but ultimately shakes his head.

"I hope you know how much that hurt me, Mantis."

He nods. He's been extending Liquid the courtesy - the privacy - of not reading his mind right now, but still the emotional sting of being 'lied' to seeps through their bond. "I do not want to hurt you, Eli. I... did what I felt would be best for you, but tried to break the truth to you gently."

Liquid scoffs, but sits up. "Just be  _ blunt _ , Mantis, I'm sick and tired of mindgames."

"Being attached to Ocelot's body for a few years will do that to anyone."

That wrings a laugh out of Liquid, and finally he's calm again, the last fitful clouds of a terrible storm drifting away to reveal a clear sky like the one above them. Mantis puts his arm around Liquid's shoulder and Liquid leans into him.

This is nice.

"Mantis..." Liquid murmurs.

"Hm?"

"I need you to fuck me."

Mantis coughs, his whole body tensing. Quite the departure in mood. "Wh-what?" he sputters.

Liquid acts oblivious to Mantis' shock, instead rubbing his cheek against his shoulder. "I want to feel you, your touch— I want you to make love to me, Mantis. I want to know I'm real to you."

"But—-"

"I don't care if I can't get off of it - I don't want this for my own carnal satisfaction, do you understand?"

Mantis does not. "Wh-?"

"I want you to allow yourself to feel pleasure, not have it feel like it’s all about me and I’m forcing you to do something that you despise."

"Eli, that's-"

Liquid sits up and pins Mantis down by his shoulders before straddling him. "I want you to fuck me and  _ mean _ it. I want to be the reason you feel good - you owe me something, Mantis. You owe me this."

As much as Mantis wants to object to this frankly ridiculous idea, with the way that Liquid is looking at him so intently with his pupils blown in the dark, he just can not resist.

And Liquid is right, Mantis  _ does _ owe him - probably owed him even before they ended up in this pitiful place. 

He knows Liquid fully expects him to decline, to shove him off or maybe even leave the VR altogether. So the surprise on his face is quite expected when Mantis puts his hands on Liquid's hips and tells him to undo his mask.

He smiles again, this time when the warm night air hits his face.

"But what will we do if a lion comes by and tries to eat me?"

Liquid snorts and bites at Mantis' lower lip.

"I'll eat you first."

Liquid's mouth doesn't stay on Mantis' for long, and soon he trails down his body, putting his own hands over Mantis' and moving them away - holding them tight - so he can slither down into a position with his mouth  _ much _ closer to Mantis' crotch. Mantis isn't really used to Liquid being so forward, and he's afraid to say anything and break the spell. Being self-conscious is poison to the man.

"What's the matter?" Liquid calls him out, looking up at him from under his eyelashes.

"Uh..."

"Very eloquent, love."

Liquid, ever the show-off, unzips Mantis' pants with his teeth. The warm night air suddenly seems a lot cooler... the gentle breeze somehow emphasizes how Mantis is still sore in places; he realizes he's restless from being confined to a hospital setting in the real world for the past several days. He missed this.

"Eli..."

Liquid mouths at Mantis' limp cock, slips his hand out of his to wrap his fingers around it and gently tug and massage. He's concentrating so hard it's cute. He seems almost reverent.

Despite at how uncomfortable the hard ground is beneath him Mantis manages to unwind quickly, finally letting go all the tensions of the past days - the ones between him and Liquid too. Gasping, he has to hide his face against his shoulder sheepishly when he finds himself groping his own chest.

"No." Liquid pulls off. "You have to watch me."

Mantis snaps his head back up, eyes glued on Liquid's busy work, his own mouth dry by now. 

"I knew you practiced this while I was gone but-" Mantis sucks in a breath.  _ Shit _ . Who knew you could get that good at giving head by simply reading Wikihow articles?

Liquid gets even more enthusiastic after that comment and pushes a little further than he can handle - he ends up choking and cursing but manages to catch himself after a few seconds before proceeding to dive right back in. 

If he keeps going like this, Mantis is pretty sure there will not be any actual fucking happening tonight.

Mantis tangles his hands in Liquid's hair, pushing his head back. "Don't," he rasps. "I'll—"

"What's the matter?" Liquid says with a smirk, then he gives the tip of Mantis' dick a cheeky little lick. Mantis twitches.

"I do not want you throwing up on my lap, for one thing."

"Hmph." Liquid doesn't want to be reminded of the limitations of his AI body right now - but who can blame Mantis for bringing them up? As much as Liquid wants himself to be  _ used _ Mantis does not want to hurt him. "Fine then, shall we move on?"

"Nnh..."

"You can, ah, retrieve objects from the code, can't you, just make them 'magically' appear? Fetch us some lube."

"Eli," Mantis says, a little warningly, but he lets himself get bossed around and does as Liquid asks — though no one ever programmed actual sex lubricant into Shadow Moses, because why would they, thus Mantis gets a bottle of hand lotion instead. That should do.

The briefest of hesitation flickers across Liquid's face as Mantis pops the lid off the lotion. "Do you think it will— hurt?"

"Mm?"

"This isn't, er, my... intended programming. It might be... it might be hard for me to... adjust."

"Oh, so  _ now _ you start worrying about that? I thought you said you didn't care."

"I said I don't care about getting off- this is about  _ you— _ I just..."

Mantis shuts him up with a kiss. "Finish what you started, Eli. I am sure you will be fine."

Liquid ponders that for half a moment, then puts aside his fickleness and kicks off his pants and underwear before grabbing the lotion from Mantis' hand.

"Watch me," he orders and if Mantis was not this distracted by...  _ other _ things he would have definitely scolded him for it.

Of course Liquid makes another show out of preparing himself, languidly thrusting his slickened fingers between his legs and putting himself on display - though it does lack some of his usual enthusiasm which Mantis assumes has to do with the fact that there really is no physical enjoyment in it for him after all.

Mantis, however, feels like his dick is about to break off.

"Who knew you could be so impatient?" Liquid teases and before Mantis can even object he sinks down on him, a grimace painting Liquid's face that is hard to interpret.

“Eli-?”

"I'm fine," he says, voice clipped, before bunching up Mantis' shirt and running his hands over protruding ribs. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"

Liquid rolls his hips experimentally and Mantis almost  _ yells _ . God only knows for how long he has needed this.

"Good?" Liquid says, grinning.

"Ah-—" Mantis nods weakly, clings to Liquid's frame. Yes, it feels good - to be inside Liquid like this... in a way that's intimate and well, normal. Liquid nuzzles him, kisses his face, rocks back and forth in his lap. It's not the energetic bouncing he could be coaxed into in life; Mantis starts to notice Liquid wincing on the downstrokes.

"It's alright," Liquid says quickly, catching Mantis' concerned expression. "I just, ermm-"

"Does it hurt?"

"H-Ha... maybe a little." He shifts to the side as he attempts to adjust himself and find a serviceable angle. It seems futile. "Just sort of... crampy... stabbing... oww."

"I- sorry, Eli."

"Not your fault... I just can't, ahh—" Liquid twists, and it sends a shudder through Mantis' whole body. Liquid might be uncomfortable but his attempts at fixing that certainly feel good to  _ Mantis _ . "Nngh."

Doing the only thing that feels appropriate in this situation Mantis dips his fingers into Liquid's code to make him relax, ease the pain off him.

Liquid sighs in relief and moves more comfortably, a heated little smile shining across his face illuminated by all those stars shining above him - it is almost cheesy enough to make Mantis laugh, if he was not so distracted.

"Better?" he mumbles and Liquid nods and increases his speed, fucks himself on Mantis' dick more roughly and harder and Mantis is pretty sure he can feel drool run down the scarred side of his face. 

It takes all of Mantis' concentration to keep his touch on Liquid's code stable but of course when he bites at Mantis' earlobe he slips in too deep, wrenching a shuddering groan from the man.

"Did that, ah, hurt?" 

"No," Liquid grins and kisses him. "Actually, it felt pretty good."

Mantis does it again, and if before he was only dipping in his fingers, this time he uses his entire hand.

Liquid's back snaps into a violent arch as he yells, clinging to Mantis' frame and spasming around him. Almost instantly he's overwhelmed but he babbles to Mantis to  _ keep going _ , keep doing that, oh god oh god oh  _ god _ ...

"And here you said you wanted to have this be not about yourself," Mantis pants against his neck. "Silly Eli... your pleasure  _ is _ what gives me satisfaction. I... like to see you like this."

Liquid moans and bucks his hips and looks so beautiful impaled on Mantis' cock and lost in his abandon. The fact that his penis is perfectly limp is an odd incongruity to the wonderful, animalistic, loathsome scene.

At first Mantis still tries to fight against the rising pressure, to enjoy this moment for a little longer, but it is too hard with Liquid kind of literally coming apart on top of him. 

God, he is probably tugging a bit  _ too _ hard at Liquid's program because his visuals keep jumping slightly; glitching out and distorting his little moans and gasps.

"M̶̈́-̸̄M̵͊a̵ ̈́͝n̴̉t̸̂i̷ṡ̵ ̫͊ ̶̏-̷̃" 

This is so strange but so good and Mantis stumbles over the edge quickly when Liquid goes hot and cold and big and small and  _ all _ the things right there around him. 

Mantis has to take a second to breathe, disappointed with himself for giving in so easily but he still has to weakly raise his hands and pat Liquid's shifting face - slowly and carefully digging more pleasure out of him.

"You look nice like this..." he mumbles drowsily and watches Liquid grinding down on him still, probably stuck in that weird mixture of pleasure and pain enveloping them both. Mantis  dips in again to coax a little more of that out of Liquid.

"����" Liquid shudders, and Mantis wonders how much exactly is too much.

So he eases up on him, kissing his face as he keeps the pleasure rolling through a drawn-out comedown. He's very intimately aware of Liquid's inability to orgasm, his frustration at never being able to find release - he doesn't want him to end this sore and disappointed. He wants this to be as nice and good for him as it was for himself.

Eventually Liquid finds his words again. "I love you," he gasps against Mantis' shoulder. "I really, r-really love you, M-M̶̈́-̸̄�ntisss..."

"Shh. I know."

They lay there in the dirt, sweaty and breathless, just like they did as children but it is oh so different now. 

Mantis sighs contently and Liquid grins at him, playfully bites him before rolling off.

"You know," he says, "sometimes I wouldn’t mind spending all of eternity like this with you."

"Mh. What about your goals though - didn't you plan to get revenge on Snake?" 

Liquid grunts in that slightly annoyed way of his before pulling Mantis closer to his side; it is a warm night, but he is still naked and coming off his high. 

"Eli?"

"I do! I do want to kill him - he deserves to suffer for what he did to you, to us. But-" Liquid cuts himself off and presses his face against Mantis' shoulder.

"But what?"

"But sometimes I just..." Liquid sighs. "I just want to be with you, Mantis. I'm happy with you. Sometimes that's... more important to me than revenge."

Mantis smiles at little at Liquid's backwards concept of romance. "That is sweet of you to say, Eli."

"Besides, I... I must admit I still haven't figured out a way to kill Snake - and Ocelot, and whoever's involved with the Patriots, and everyone that stands in my way — how am I supposed to do that from  _ here? _ " He puts his hands on his chest demonstratively, but his nakedness makes him hard to take seriously. (Mantis, reminded of that, self-consciously tucks his dick away.) "I'm a  _ computer program. _ I'm not even one of the  _ good _ ones like a virus or something."

"Careful. Last time you tried venturing out of here you almost got killed because the network thought you  _ were _ a virus."

"What bloody good does that do me?" Liquid hides himself against Mantis again, upset; Mantis rubs his back soothingly. "I haven't figured out a way I can impact the real world. I can't even do something like manipulate Emmerich, he's too suspicious of me. He ignores my emails entirely half the time."

"What about Sunny? Maybe she can help you."

"...I don't want her dragged into this any more than she already is. Figuring out a way to get her away from the Patriots is  _ also _ on my to-do list, but..."

"...but you do not know how to do that, either."

Liquid snarls in frustration. "I hate this," he says. Mantis doesn't bother pointing out that just a minute ago he was saying he loved this. It's Liquid. He can, and frequently does, feel both. Mantis just does his best to comfort him.

"We will figure something out eventually. You know I want to help you."

"What I need is a body, like you have."

"And where do you intend to get that?"

"..." He thoughtfully traces his fingers over Mantis’ chest. "Can't you ask one of your little girlfriends to share her body with me? I mean- you do it too, right?" 

Mantis stifles a laugh. "Eli, it works because I am a psychic and the girl also has psychic potential herself. With you it would be like trying to fit a lid on the wrong jar. And besides, I doubt that they would allow another old man to live among them."

Liquid makes a face and pinches Mantis in the side. "I'm not old. I am  _ dead _ ."

"You were almost thirty-three when you died, that seems ancient to any teenage girl."

"..."

Liquid leans over him and studies his face carefully. "Do you...- are you two ever  _ not _ separate entities...? Like when you are awake when she is... are you different?"

"Eli, that is a very weird thing to discuss right after having sex."

Liquid sheepishly smiles at him. "Sorry. Just curious, that's all."

Mantis sits up a little and exhales slowly. "... however, we  _ do _ , er, resonate with each other when sharing a body and mind. But I am still myself - it is quite hard to explain to someone who has not experienced it themselves."

"Mnh."

Mantis is silent for a bit before taking both of Liquid's hands in his own. "I know this is very important to you and I won't try to stand in your way - there may be a... solution to your lack of physical presence in the outside world."

Liquid looks at him expectantly.

"I- do you remember how we controlled Sahelanthropus? Technically it was only you who did that, I served merely as a medium to forward your commands to it."

"Y-Yeah. Mantis, are you sure that is -"

"It could work the same way; I will assume my lead over the girl and you will forward whatever you want her to do - she will speak and move and think just like you, like  _ we _ do."

Liquid is speechless and just stares at Mantis for a moment; he seems a little too skeptical of this plan.

But it also may very well be his only chance at getting to confront Snake head-on.


End file.
